


guess you gotta run sometimes

by superstarrgirl



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/M, broken liam, kinda broken niall?, no bromances or anything just liam/danni and liam/sophia, only at the end tho, using the song nashville covered by taylor swift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 13:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superstarrgirl/pseuds/superstarrgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>/goin' back to nashville, thinkin' bout the whole thing, guess you gotta run sometimes\</p><p>Four boys crowd around him and hold him close, Niall settled between his legs, Louis stroking his hair, Harry and Zayn with their heads on his shoulders, and even though he feels like he’s back at square one, he’s working on it. </p><p>Or, Liam and Danielle break up and Liam just wants her back, and then wants to move on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	guess you gotta run sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> Um...I'm not really sure about this? If you like it, lemme know? If you don't, I'm sorry, I guess. Danielle is like my favorite girlfriend, and I was really sad to hear that they broke up when they did, so this is just, like, Liam dealing with the breakup, maybe? There's no bromances or anything, not even hints to anything unless you really squint, so if you only want bromance don't read this!

Going back to Nashville  
Thinking 'bout the whole thing  
Guess you gotta run sometimes  
Maybe I'm a fast train  
Blowin' through a valley  
Watching all my life go by

//

She leaves with a shout, slams the door behind her so hard the walls shake, so hard Liam feels words scraping at his heart, so hard that his teeth chatter. 

I can’t do this anymore, Liam!

Well no one’s asking you to!

Aren’t you?

Why would I? Obvious enough you don’t want to be here! So leave!

I will. I’ll leave! Don’t expect me to come crawling back!

I won’t!

And that’s it. That’s the way they finish, not with a bang but with a whimper. 

//

Loving Danielle was easy, like floating over crystal blue ocean, the current guiding you along gently, waves lapping at your sunburnt cheeks. 

Losing Danielle is like drowning, like being dragged under by the only thing you thought you could trust. Losing Danielle is like losing himself, like coming down off a glorious high, and words don’t seem to explain just how much Liam is hurting. 

His mum calls at least twenty times in the first two days, but that’s nothing compared to Louis, who calls twenty times within the first five minutes. Liam really wishes he were exaggerating, but unfortunately. 

The other lads give up after a while when they realize Liam won’t pick up, but Louis is a persistent bastard, and when Liam goes MIA for a week, he turns up at Liam’s front door, beating it down until Liam answers, and when Liam answers, all it takes is one sad look from Louis and he’s gone. 

It’s not that he’s never cried in front of the boys, because he has. It’s just that, this time it’s different. This time it’s broken promises pouring from his eyes. This time it’s heartbreak, and it sucks. 

// 

It’s a fast downward spiral, to be honest. 

There’s a list of girls that Liam’ going to call back (not really) and maybe even a few boys, because boys are just easier to get along with and, well. 

There’s a list of names and Liam gets them confused when he wakes up next to a girl he should recognize but doesn’t, there’s a list of names that run around in his head every second of every fucking day but all he can think is DanielleDanielleDanielle where are you Danielle why did you leave Danielle please come back Danielle.

Fans follow him everywhere; fans follow him to lunch and stand outside his apartment and god why can’t they just go away? Can’t they see, if they love him so much, that he’s hurting and all he needs is time and all he wants is them to go away and all he wants is Danielle. 

Even thinking her name hurts, tears straight through his heart and he wonders if this is what it’s always going to be like. 

//

He goes out with Zayn one night, and when he comes back, the apartment smells like her, it’s been cleaned and vacuumed, and everything that was once hers is now gone. 

Liam tears through the apartment, looking for her, looking for the photographs, looking for the books, looking for anything and Zayn follows, watching helplessly, doesn’t try to comfort him until Liam’s done ripping his apartment to shreds, dragging the walls to the floor and digging underneath floorboards because she has to be here she has to be here she can’t be gone no. 

He sinks to the bed, knees giving way underneath him, and Zayn sits beside him and god how Liam wants to hate Zayn because Zayn is happy with his life, with a girlfriend and a dog and Zayn sees the world in a way that Liam never could, never learned how to, but when Zayn gathers Liam’s trembling figure in his thin, wiry arms, Liam breaks. 

Seems to be doing that a lot. 

//

When the tour starts, Liam shaves his hair and gets tattoos, per Louis’ suggestion. 

The shows become forced smiles and fake happiness and even though Liam sometimes still gets giddy when he looks out on the crowd and sees girls who adore him and his best friends, the feeling is almost immediately overtaken by sadness. When they finish concerts, Liam will storm back to the bus and shut himself in his bunk, and the boys have to watch as their best friend breaks and they can’t do anything about it. 

One night, in Tallahassee, when Liam pulls the curtain over his bunk and rolls away, the curtain is thrown open once again and Niall clambers in after him, wrapping an arm around Liam’s waist. Liam pretends to be asleep until he feels something cold and wet against his shoulder, and he realizes. 

Niall’s crying. 

Liam turns to see Niall with his head tucked down, and Liam gathers the younger boy in his arms and cradles his head, letting Niall sob, and Liam wonders if the others have gone through this, through piecing Niall back together after Liam left, after Liam disappeared, and maybe that’s why Harry’s giving Liam dirty glares when he thinks Liam can’t see and it hurts because Liam is supposed to be Niall’s protector, the one that Niall is supposed to come to when his world is falling apart, but Liam’s been too caught up in a relationship that’s been over for six months to notice that his bandmate and best friend is breaking to pieces. 

“Please come back to us.” Niall whispers into Liam’s skin, lips soft and tickly, and god doesn’t that just hurt like a bitch. 

“I’m trying, Niall, I’m trying.” And now Liam’s crying into Niall’s hair and they’re both just sobbing and Liam can’t hold Niall close enough and Niall’s hands crushed against Liam’s chest are shaking and there’s a little voice in the back of Liam’s head that sounds like Danielle’s that’s saying, 

Please go back to them.

//

Sophia’s a nice girl, one of Zayn’s friends, and Liam likes her enough to ask her on a date. She says yes because, well, he’s Liam Payne and if Liam Payne asks you on a date you go on the date. They both like lazy Sundays and Batman movies and the Arctic Monkeys, but other than that, they’re completely different, and that scares Liam quite a lot. 

Liam prefers summer and she loves winter, she doesn’t understand his obsession with The Avengers, saying they’re a crappy copy of the Justice League, and she hates the fans. They’re pushy, they’re mean, they’re rude, they don’t like me Liam can’t we stay in. She whines about it all the time, and it really angers him. 

“Sophia,” Liam starts one day, settling on the couch across from her. “The fans are gonna be just something you have to get used to. They’re always gonna be there. That’s just how it is.” Liam doesn’t understand what he said that was wrong, but a cold front comes over Sophia’s features, and she stands. 

“Well, fine. If that’s just how it is.” She’s gone before Liam can even blink, and he wonders if that’s the end. But he knows it isn’t. 

//

Sophia makes him happy, but not as happy as Danielle made him. They hold hands and kiss and cuddle and do couple stuff, maybe, but whenever Liam looks at Sophia, all he sees are chocolate eyes and brown curls and he’s curious to know if Danielle misses him as much as he misses her. 

//

Moving on gets easier. 

He and Sophia work things out, and sometimes he’ll get phone calls from Danielle, checking in, and it’s not like he’s drowning anymore. He’s learning how to swim, legs kicking strong and powerful. He’s learning to save himself

There’s a song he hears after a show one night, called Nashville, covered by Taylor Swift, and for some reason when he hears it on his Pandora radio, he stops dead and just listens. 

Listening to that song, the sense of nostalgia hits him unlike anything he’s ever known, cutting to his heart, long fingernails raking deep cuts, and when the boys come in from greeting fans, Zayn finds Liam curled up in a corner, head on his knees, Nashville playing as loud as he dares. 

Four boys crowd around him and hold him close, Niall settled between his legs, Louis stroking his hair, Harry and Zayn with their heads on his shoulders, and even though he feels like he’s back at square one, he’s working on it. 

//

Going back to Nashville  
Thinking 'bout the whole thing  
Guess you gotta run sometimes  
Maybe I'm a fast train  
Blowin' through a valley  
Watching all my life go by


End file.
